While ESPN decided to keep Shannon Sharpe on board after he accidentally went live on Instagram while having sex, other partners and guests are on the verge of severing ties with the First Take host.
On Wednesday, Sharpe’s Instagram account began streaming while he could be heard engaging in sexual activity with a woman he called ‘Michelle’. That evening, Sharpe went on his Nightcap show and owned up to what he called an accident after his team initially claimed he got hacked.
As the scandal continues to circulate, Sharpe took to the show on Thursday and revealed how people and companies are refusing to be affiliated with him after the incident.
‘People are trying to say it was staged,’ Sharpe said. ‘Today I just lost an interview on Club ShayShay that would have been the most visible person I would have been able to interview to date. They said no.
‘We’ve got six- and seven-figure sponsors and advertisers saying, ‘Shannon, we don’t know if we want to continue this relationship,” he continued.
Shannon Sharpe claimed advertisers are pulling out of his podcast amid sex video scandal
Sharpe went live on his Instagram while having an intimate moment with a woman
‘My company, ShayShay Media, is about to become a free agent, so that means Nightcap and Club ShayShay, we’ll be able to take it wherever we want to go,’ Sharpe added.
‘So you think I would be willing to risk that… the next five to seven years, $170m to $200m, you think I would be willing to risk that to do this? Would you be willing to risk $200m?’
Earlier on Thursday, Jason Whitlock called Sharpe a ‘master at baiting’ before claiming the ‘accident’ was plotted to bring in views and fight rumors about his sexuality.
‘He’s a master at baiting,’ Whitlock said. ‘Late night, he goes on Nightcap and confesses and reels in 185, 190, 200 thousand live viewers over YouTube – that’s a massive number.
‘And so people have instantly gone to [say]: ‘Was this leaked intentionally for publicity? ‘Was this leaked intentionally to fight the rumors that Shannon Sharpe is gay? Those rumors have been around for quite some time.’
Jason Whitlock suggested that Sharpe intentionally streamed himself having sex for views
During the highly-viewed Nightcap episode, Sharpe said that he tossed his phone on the bed and had no idea it had started a live stream of the ceiling as Sharpe and the woman engaged in sexual activity.
While Sharpe noted his struggles with technology, co-host Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson pointed out how starting a live stream requires several steps and would rarely happen by accident.
As for the rumors about his sexuality, Sharpe revealed receiving a call from comedian Kat Williams, who quipped about him being with ‘Michelle’ and not ‘Michael’.
Sharpe was absent from Thursday’s episode of First Take – which was led by Stephen A. Smith and featured Dan Orlovsky, in what is understood to be a planned day off. However, he is expected to return to ESPN on Monday, which aligns with his usual schedule.
